Say Hello to My Little Friend

RIT’s
Gordon Fieldhouse was a buzz Saturday afternoon in anticipation of this
year’s Horton Distinguished Speaker, Al Pacino. Pacino spoke to a sold
out crowd of 4,800 students, family, faculty, and staff. The
Horton Distinguished Speaker was created by RIT Student Government to
honor Frank Horton, a long time supporter of RIT. He was also
instrumental in starting NTID at RIT and there is now a scholarship for
deaf and hard of hearing students in his honor. RIT created the speaker
series in order to bring in leaders from around the world including
Rudy Guliani, Robert Redford, Ben Stein, Colin Powel, and two former
presidents. Al
Pacino was completely different than what I was expecting. When you
plan to see an inspirational speaker, you envision someone with a
written out speech who stands for an hour talking about how hard you
work and what your hard work means for the future of the world. Al
Pacino was nothing like this. The presentation started with a montage
of Pacino’s life and career and introduction from President Destler and
Student Government. Then, the stage opened to a living room type setup,
very comfortable and laid back. The interviewer was Jack Garner, a
long time columnist for the Democrat and Chronicle.

Pacino
was very down to earth and spoke about his career, upbringing, and
faithful devotion to the art of acting. His interview was inspiring in a
way that inspirational speeches can’t really touch. It felt like we
were really getting to know him as he told of his emotional journey with
friends such as Meryl Streep and on the set of The Godfather. At the
end, the audience was allowed to ask Pacino any questions they would
like. His advice to young actors: “It's about getting out there and
working and thinking about what you do and learning your craft... Just
be committed to what you do, and just work. I know it sounds like what
everybody says, but it's so true.” Al Pacino also responded, after
hearing what a garbage plate was, “Can I get one to go?”

{youtube}IN9sbM59U2c{/youtube}After
the absolutely hilarious night of comedy Friday night with Craig
Ferguson, Saturday afternoon was a nice way to start to wind down the
weekend. It really felt to me that I knew Pacino a little bit and got
to see how really down to earth he is. Pacino did not at all fit my
expectations of a speaker, but that’s what made him so great. It was
much nicer to have a friendly, down to earth, speaker in a comfortable
setting who is so passionate about what he does. If I took one thing
away from Pacino, be passionate about what you do and work hard at it.
So even as an engineer I can relate to the Academy Award winning actor.For updates about my life and everything RIT follow me on Twitter : RIT_Megan